Poole Harbour Commissioners have announced* that 200 barrels of “reservoir fluid” have leaked from a pipeline into the harbour.   … read more

The Elgin North Sea natural gas rig was found to be leaking gas, leading to the evacuation of all workers and imposition of an air and sea exclusion zone. read more

A leak from a flowline to the Shell-operated Gannet Alpha platform caused the biggest oil spill in the North Sea for a decade. read more

Four workers were killed and several others injured by a blast at an oil refinery near Pembroke, Wales. read more

A new paper re-examined the size and impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. read more

The paper addresses the possibility of oil accumulating below the surface of water in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the recent oil spill. read more

Several months after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in one of the biggest oil spills in US history, much of the oil has apparently been either removed or dispersed through natural means. read more

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has huge environmental, political and financial implications. For the 8 weeks since the start of the leak scientists have been striving to assess its size, nature and toxicity in order to work out just how much damage is being done. Various methods have been suggested to not only stem but also clean up the spill, each with huge consequences of its own. The SMC gathered experts in various aspects of this subject to brief journalists on the background to the spill, its size, its impact and what can be done to prevent similar accidents in the future. read more

Since the explosion on the oil rig occurred on 20 April, the rate at which oil is pouring into the sea has been found to be much higher than originally thought, while there are reports that the oil has begun to wash up on the Gulf Coast. read more

An explosion on a BP-operated oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is leaking large amounts of oil into the sea, which in turn is threatening the Gulf Coast. read more

The Science Media Centre asked scientists and engineers to comment on the consequences of the leakage of oil and other chemicals from the ship MSC Napoli which was beached off the Devon coast. read more

What are the effects of oil spills and fires in the Gulf? read more